Delivery mechanism for automatic feeding, valving and sewing machines



April 21 19 Filed June 4. 1956 C R. HOLL S l DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC FEEDING. VALVING AND SEWING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 .n: I v H -|llllli|lli| IH IH llllfl Q) L K g I E i E m 5% I In J MT Q I 'I A MTIIH IHIIIII i 0 r fi l w \W I, Q Q g I N R o I k l gfifigm "Jill I f s K? 5 Q D INVENTOR. :m cvzhf zzmm's w i Q g (Y z g- WW I Ofi or-neg.

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DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC FEEDING. VALVING AND SEWING MACHINES Filed June 4, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 a u u a a u a o o o o o o n no J68 i 6.9 a o I 66 O 76 2 52 Q Q o A i o O 63 79 76 J i" r I INVENIOR.

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DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC FEEDING. VALVING AND SEWING MACHINES Filed June 4. 1956 4 Sheets -Sheet 4 INVENTOR. (T5772 0)? 7?][027'1'5' MW QIZZZOFNQQ.

United States Patent DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC FEED- ING, VALVING AND SEWING MACHINES Clinton R. Hollis, Camden, Ark, assignor to Intemational Paper Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Application June 4, 1956, Serial No. 589,101

4 Claims. (Cl. 198-33) This invention relates to improvements in machines for automatically performing feeding, valving, sleeving and sewing operations on preformed gusseted blanks for multiwall paper valve bags and particularly to a new and useful delivery mechanism for such machines.

A machine of this general type is fully described in the copending application of Clinton R. Hollis, Ser. No. 520,033, filed July 5, 1955. This invention is primarily directed to the delivery or transfer mechanism for such a machine and includes means for feeding bag tubes in timed sequence to the sewing portion of the machine, the timing of which can be easily and simply changed to effect the feeding of bags of different widths.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide apparatus for a machine of the character described for effectively presenting bag tubes on which valving and sleeving operations have been completed to the sewing portion of the machine.

A further object is to provide a bag tube delivery mechanism including a bag pusher aifixed to an intermittently operable endless conveyor which is periodically effective to contact a bag tube and move it along a horizontal path.

A further object is to provide adjustable timing means for a bag tube delivery mechanism which is effective to cause bag pusher means to engage each of a series of bag tubes as they are successively presented into operative association therewith by mechanisms in a machine of the character described and to advance each sudh bag tube into operative association with the sewing mechanisms of the machine.

A further object of this invention is to provide an automatic bag tube advancing mechanism which is synchronized with the operation of a bag feeding, valving and sewing machine and which is readily adjustable to accom modate various sizes of bag tubes.

A further object is to provide a machine which is simple in design, rugged in construction and economical to manufacture. I

With these and other objects in view, the nature of which will be more apparent, the invention will be more fully understood by reference to the drawings, the accompanying detailed description and the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of a portion of a bag feeding, valving, sleeving and sewing machine having a delivery mechanism constructed in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the delivery section of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a left end elevation of the delivery section of the machine;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevation of the bag pusher 2 in position as it is being tipped up by the hub of the sprocket just prior to its traverse over the horizontal cam.

Referring to the drawings in particular, the invention as illustrated is embodied in a machine for automatically performing feeding, valving, sleeving and sewing operations on preformed gusseted blanks for multiwall paper valve bags and includes a bag feeding and discharging section A, portions of which are generally indicated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 (major portions not shown), a valving and sleeving section, portions of which are shown in Fig. 3 and generally indicated B, a transfer or delivery section generally indicated C with which this invention is chiefly concerned, and a sewing section (not shown but on the opposite end of the delivery section from the valving and sleeving section B), all sections adapted to be driven in proper synchronization from a single source of power such as a motor which delivers power to the pulley generally indicated at D.

The transfer or delivery section C contains mechanisms synchronized with mechanisms in the feeding and discharging section A to move each bag tube which has been valved and sleeved by the mechanisms in section B into a horizontal position on the delivery section and thereafter feed each successive tube in timed sequence to the sewing section of the machine. The delivery section C also contains mechanisms to transmit power from its delivered source at the pulley D to the remaining machine operating parts as well as an arrangement to vary the timing of the bag delivery mechanism to accommodate bag tubes of various sizes.

Bag tubes 8 are moved by mechanisms in the bag feeding and discharging section A, including four large-radius constantly rotating feed sectors 10, into edge engagement onto an adjustable bag tube rest 12 which may be elevated or lowered by a hand wheel 14 (see Fig. 3). Here valving and sleeving operations are performed by mechanisms of the section B.

The feed sectors 10 as they continue to rotate and bring a fresh bag tube into position on the bag rest 12 thereafter effect contact with the previously deposited bag tube which has already been valved and sleeved and displace its upper edge portion into contact with four constantly rotating discharge feed rolls 16 aflixed to a shaft 18 arranged in vertical alignment with the feed sector shaft (not shown) and mounted in suitable bearings in side frames 19, 19. The feed sectors 10 and the discharge feed rolls 16 form a nip and cooperate to effect the removal of the bag tube from the bag rest 12 into a [horizontal position onto two spaced, intermittently movable, endless sprocket chains 20 and 22 in the delivery section C. 1

The chain 20 engages a sprocket 24 affixed to a shaft 26 horizontally mounted on suitable bearings affixed to a cross frame member 28. The chain 20 also engages a sprocket 30 which is affixed to a large hollow sleeve-shaft 32 mounted in suitable bearings in the frame 19 beneath the shaft 26 and spaced toward the front of the machine therefrom. The chain 20 also engages a third sprocket 34 mounted on the shaft 18. The shaft 18 is also provided with a sprocket 36 spaced from the sprocket 34 and is engaged by the chain 22. A similar sprocket 38 is affixed to the shaft 26 and a sprocket 40 is affixed to the sleeve shaft 32, and both are engaged by the chain 22;

The chains 20 and 22 are each provided with a plurality of similar right-angle pushers 42' pivotally connected thereto. Each pusher 42 includes a laterally projecting bag tube contacting face 42a and a trailing portion 43, extending parallel with the associated chain (see Figs. 2 and 6), which serves as a lever to project the face portion 42a above the chains for bag-advancing functions and as a weight to lower the face portion 42a atother each chain on the cross-frame member 28 to pivot the face portions 42a into their vertical positions.

The mechanism is so arranged and the timing is such that the pusher faces 42a are presented above the top of the chains 20 and 22 in precise time to contact the trailing edge of each bag as it is moved into position overlying the chains. The horizontal plate earns 44 are short enough to permit the pusher faces 42a to drop back to a horizontal position when their trailing portions 43 fall off the rear edges of the horizontal cams before the next bag being delivered from the valving and sleeving station B reaches its full horizontal position at rest on top of the chains 20 and 22.

In accordance with the invention allowance for variations in widths of bags is made by a novel timing arrangement which is simply and easily effected without any major relocation of the mechanism.

Power which is delivered to the pulley at D- is transmitted through a speed reducer 48 to continuously rotate a horizontally disposed shaft 50 mounted in the frame members 19. .The shaft 50 is provided with a gear 52 aflixed near one end thereof which meshes with a gear 54 freely mounted on the sleeve shaft 32 which carries the sprockets 30 and 40 which drive the chains 20 and 22. A continuously rotating shaft 56 is arranged inside the sleeve shaft 32 and rotates independently thereof. The shaft 56 (see Fig. 1) is provided near one end with a disc cam 58. A roller follower 60 mounted on an arm 61 is spring biased against the cam 58 by a tension spring 62v afiixed to the frame 19 and the arm 61. The arm 61 has a hubbed portion 61a pivotally mounted on the frame 19 which is provided with another arm 63 angularly offset from the arm 61. The arm 63 is provided with a resiliently mounted abutment plate 64 at its outer end which is movable in response to the cam 58 to intersect the path of a pawl 66 pivoted at the end of an arm 68 affixed to the sleeve shaft 32 for rotation therewith. The pawl 66 has an outwardly extending trip arm 69. A ratchet wheel 70 is freely mounted on the sleeve shaft 32 and is yieldably connected to the gear 54 by pin and spring means 71 and is periodically engaged by the pawl 66 carried by the arm 68 to effect rotation of the sleeve shaft 32 along with the gear 54.

When the abutment plate 64 contacts the trip arm 69 of the pawl 66 it knocks the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet 70 to stop. the rotation of the sleeve shaft 32, and thus stops the movement of the chains 20 and 22 and the pushers 42 carried thereby. The trip arm 69 rests against the abutment 64 in the stop position of the sleeve shaft 32 until the arm 63 and the abutment are again moved out of the path of the pawl 66 by action of the cam 58, and the pawl is urged by a spring 72 affixed thereto and the arm 68 back into engagement with the ratchet wheel 70.

Reverse rotation of the sleeve shaft 32, which would normally result from frictional contact with the constantly rotating shaft 56, is prevented by a leaf spring stop 73 depending from and affixed to the cross frame member 28 and having its lower end biased into contact with a single notch on a wheel 74 affixed to the sleeve shaft 32 by means of a clamp hub 75. For timing changes the clamp 75 is loosened and the sleeve shaft rotated the desired amount to effect a change in the rela-. tive position at which the pawl 66 will engage the ratchet wheel 70 so that the driving sprockets 30 and 40 will be rotated at a different time in the cycle compared to their initial starting time. After a timing change is made the clamp 75 is again tightened.

A gear 76 is affixed to the end of the shaft 50 on the outside of the left hand side frame 19 and meshes with an idler change gear 78 mounted on an adjustable bracket 79. The bracket is constructed to accommodate gears of various sizes to provide speed changes for the machine. The gear 78 meshes with a gear 80 affixed to one end of a shaft 82 mounted in hearings in the side frames 19. The shaft 82 has a gear 84 afiixed adjacent the end opposite the gear 80. The gear 84 meshes with an idler gear 86 which in turn meshes with a gear 88 afiixed to the shaft 56 so that the shaft 56 is constantly rotated.

Since the gear 54 is freely mounted on the sleeve shaft 32 the sleeve shaft 32 is not driven by the gears 54 and 52 unless the ratchet 70 aflixed to the gear 54 is engaged by the pawl 66 aflixed to the sleeve shaft 32. Thus on the occasions when the pawl 66 is permitted to move into engagement with the ratchet wheel 70 by outward movement of the abutment 64 under the control of the cam 58, the sleeve shaft 32 is positively driven from the gear 52 through the gear 54, the ratchet wheel 70, pawl 66 and arm 68, and in turn rotates the sprocket wheels 30 and 40 to drive the chains 20 and 22 and their associated pushers 42.

The cam 58 is of such dimension and contour that the chains 20 and 22 will advance respective pusher bars 42 behind each bag tube as it is deposited on the horizontal portions of the chains and will stop the chains as soon as each bag tube has been moved into engagement with the sewing mechanism.

The shaft 82 which is positively driven through the meshing gears 76, 78 and 80 is provided with a gear 90 spaced inwardly thereon from the gear 80 which meshes with a gear 92 freely mounted on the shaft 18. The gear 92 in turn meshes with and rotates a gear 94 aflixed to the shaft (not shown) which carries the feed sectors 10 and is elfective to rotate this shaft and the feed sectors thereon.

In accordance with the invention small timing changes to provide an effectively operating bag tube delivery mechanism for small variations in widths of bags are made by changing the relative angular position between the shaft 56 and the sleeve shaft 32 which is accomplished merely by loosening the clamp hub 75 and rotating the sleeve shaft. Major changes in the intermittent feed stroke lengths and operating time of the pushers 42 are effected by changing the intermediate change gear 78. The length and location of the horizontal cam plates 44, of course, will influence the positioning of the pushers 42 and the length of time they will remain in a bag tube pushing position above the chains 20 and 22.

Thus the invention provides a delivery or transfer mechanism for advancing bag tubes which are presented thereto. in a definite timed sequence to a removed location. The advancing means may be simply and easily timed to accommodate bags of various sizes without any major relocation of the machine parts.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the invention principles, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.

I claim:

1. In a machine for automatically performing finishing operations on multiwall paper bag tubes wherein is provided a bag tube rest, means for presenting a series of bag tubes in succession vertically onto said bag tube rest with each bag tube resting on a side edge and with the opposite edge thereof extending upwardly, a rotary feed sector engageable with a face of said bag tube, a rotary discharge feed roll operatively associated with said feed sector and engageable with the opposite face of said bag tube and cooperating with said feed sector to withdraw each bag in succession from said tube rest and move it upwardly into a horizontal position on bag tube delivery means, the combination of bag tube delivery means comprising: a movable endless conveyor including a horizontal portion for supporting said bag tubes, pusher means connected to said conveyor for movement therewith and effective to move behind each bag tube as it is placed onto the horizontal portion of said conveyor and push it laterally a substantial distance, and means to operate said conveyor in synchronization with the deposition of the bag tubes on the horizontal portion thereof, including rotatable driving means for said conveyor, a continuously rotating shaft, power means to continuously rotate said shaft, and means periodically connecting said rotating shaft and said rotatable driving means to actuate the same.

2. In a machine for automatically performing finishing operations on multiwall paper bag tubes wherein is provided a bag tube rest, means for presenting a series of bag tubes in succession vertically onto said bag tube rest with each bag tube resting on a side edge and with the opposite edge thereof extending upwardly, a rotary feed sector engageable with a face of said bag tube, a rotary discharge feed roll operatively associated with said feed sector and engageable with the opposite face of said bag tube and cooperating with said feed sector to withdraw each bag in succession from said tube rest and move it upwardly into a horizontal position on bag tube delivery means, the combination of bag tube delivery means comprising: a movable endless conveyor including a horizontal portion for supporting said bag tubes, pusher means connected to said conveyor for movement therewith and effective to move behind each bag tube as it is placed onto the horizontal portion of said conveyor and push it laterally a substantial distance, and means to operate said conveyor in synchronization with the deposition of the bag tubes on the horizontal portion thereof, including a periodically stationary rotatable sleeve shaft adjacent said conveyor, a conveyor driving sprocket affixed to said sleeve shaft, a gear freely mounted on said sleeve shaft, means to continuously rotate said gear, and means periodically effective to operably connect said gear with said sleeve shaft to rotate the same.

3. In a machine for automatically performing finishing operations on multiwall paper bag tubes wherein is provided a bag tube rest, means for presenting a series of bag tubes in succession vertically onto said bag tube rest with each bag tube resting on a side edge and with the opposite edge thereof extending upwardly, a rotary feed sector engageable with a face of said bag tube, a rotary discharge feed roll operatively associated with said feed sector and engageable with the opposite face of said bag tube and cooperating with said feed sector to withdraw each bag in succession from said tube rest and move it upwardly into a horizontal position on bag tube delivery means, the combination of bag tube delivery means comprising: a movable endless conveyor including a horizontal portion for supporting said bag tubes, pusher means connected to said conveyor for movement therewith and effective to move behind each bag tube as it is placed onto the horizontal portion of said conveyor and push it laterally a substantial distance, and means to operate said conveyor in synchronization with the deposition of the bag tube on the horizontal portion thereof, including a periodically stationary rotatable sleeve shaft adjacent said conveyor, a conveyor driving sprocket.

aflixed to said sleeve shaft, a gear freely mounted on said sleeve shaft, means to continuously rotate said gear, an independently driven continuously rotating cam positioned in proximity to said gear, a ratchet wheel connected to said gear, an arm afiixed to said sleeve shaft, a pawl pivotally mounted on said arm and normally engaged with said ratchet to effect rotation of said sleeve shaft by said gear, and means controllable by said cam to periodically disengage said pawl from said ratchet to stop said sleeve shaft and said conveyor.

4. In a machine for automatically performing finishing operations on multiwall paper bag tubes wherein is provided a bag tube rest, means for presenting a series of bag tubes in succession vertically onto said bag tube rest with each bag tube resting on a side edge and with the opposite edge thereof extending upwardly, a rotary feed sector engageable with a face of said bag tube, a rotary discharge feed roll operatively associated with said feed sector and engageable with the opposite face of said bag tube and cooperating with said feed sector to with draw each bag in succession from said tube rest and move it upwardly into a horizontal position on bag tube delivery means, the combination of bag tube delivery means comprising: a movable endless conveyor including a horizontal portion for supporting said bag tubes, pusher means connected to said conveyor for movement therewith and effective to move behind each bag tube as it is placed onto the horizontal portion of said conveyor and push it laterally a substantial distance, and means to operate said conveyor in synchronization with the deposition of the bag tubes on the horizontal portion thereof, including a periodically stationary rotatable sleeve shaft adjacent said conveyor, a conveyor driving sprocket afiixed to said sleeve shaft, a gear having a slot through its side faces freely mounted on said sleeve shaft, means to continuously rotate said gear, an independently driven continuously rotating cam positioned in proximity to said gear, a ratchet wheel, a pin on said ratchet Wheel extending into the slot on said gear, a spring aflixed to said gear and said pin and tending to bias said ratchet wheel in the direction of normal driving rotation, an arm afiixed to said sleeve shaft, a pawl pivotally mounted on said arm and normally engaged with said ratchet to effect rotation of said sleeve shaft by said gear, and means controllable by said cam to periodically disengage said pawl from said ratchet to 'stop said sleeve shaft and said conveyor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 807,996 Beede Dec. 19, 1905 2,205,633 Sharkey June 25, 1940 2,686,430 Leech Aug. 17, 1954 

